Dan Betzer

Christians Who Don't Attend Church

Finding the Right Church for You

CBN.com -- On our last trip to Israel, I stood in Caesarea in the room believed to be the place where the Apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa II. You may remember that Roman Governor Festus had brought Paul before the King to attempt to find some charge against him before sending him to Rome to appear before Emperor Nero.

Acts 25 and 26 tell the dramatic story of the encounter with King Agrippa. Using logic charged with passion, Paul told the very bright king about his early attempts to eradicate the followers of Christ. Then, en route to Damascus to arrest even more of those followers, he, Paul, met Christ in a most dramatic episode.

He told the King that Jesus had commissioned him to take the Gospel to the gentile world. And, he added, “I have never been disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Paul said, “King Agrippa, I know that you are familiar with the scriptures.” To which the King replied, “Paul, almost you persuade me to be a Christian.”

Almost! Fatal word! Long ago, Philip Bliss wrote one of the most haunting verses to a hymn ever penned: “Almost persuaded / harvest is past! Almost persuaded / doom comes at last. Almost cannot avail / almost is but to fail. Sad, sad that bitter wail / Almost but lost.”

The destruction of Israel by Rome was just around the historical corner. Agrippa would retire to Rome where he died in the year 100 A.D. From that point on he was lost to history, but not to eternity.

Standing before God, the King would have to remember that fateful day in Caesarea when he came close, so close, to finding Christ as Lord and Savior.

Pray for America

CBN.com -- These daily ByLines reach people around the world through radio, television, and the Internet. Several weeks ago, our TV crew and I spent two days taping ByLine programs in Washington, D.C. The National Parks Department gave us permission to tape at Mount Vernon--one of my favorite spots on this planet, Ford's Theater, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the White House, and other key venues in our nation's capitol. Every American should spend time in this great city.

Despite having been in Washington, D.C., many times, I spent considerable effort in researching each site before our taping. Each place filled me with great joy and pride at being an American. My friend, it is no secret that we have many flaws in our society, but I have been to 60 nations and it is my opinion that no place -- at least where I have been -- even comes close to the United States.

This statement is in no way a put-down of these other nations. They were a delight to me, but I thank God for the United States. Thank God for our leaders. Do you know that the Bible commands us to pray for those in authority over us? Yes, I know that there are some folks who have real problems with authority. That is their flaw, not America's.

Whether local, state or national, Christians need to pray for our leaders. It is easy to criticize; many make their living at it while others just do it for free. How would you live if you walked in the shoes of those who must make such crucial decisions day after day? God bless them, every single one. Again, thank God for America!

Ignored Distress Flares

CBN.com -- Early in the 20th century the White Star Company set out to construct the world’s largest ship. Its proposed measurements were stunning, especially for that time: 900 feet long and 11 stories high. Further, the company announced a breakthrough in steamship design.

This ship would have 16 watertight compartments and a double bottom. No doubt about it, this ship, the Titanic, would be unsinkable. Yet on April 15, 1912, just 4 days, 17 hours, and 35 minutes later, the “unsinkable” Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank into two miles of ice-cold water.

A total of 1512 passengers perished. It is an interesting sidebar to this well-known story that a freighter, the California, was only 10 miles away. The crew actually saw eight distress flares fired from the sinking ship, but they did not respond. They figured the flares were set off in some kind of celebration on the Titanic.

For some reason, that story from history reminds me of the destruction of Sodom.

Abraham’s nephew Lot, a resident of the ill-fated city, had been warned by heavenly messengers to get out. He tried to warn friends and family. They laughed at him for his strange “distress flares.”

Why? Because the life that Lot lived was so little different from their own they couldn’t understand why God would save HIM if, indeed, there were divine destruction coming. They responded, “Lot, you’re mocking us!”

It was tragic that the city was destroyed, but even more tragic perhaps that some who could have been rescued were not rescued because of the poor example God’s man in the city had set. It makes one think about one’s own life today, doesn’t it?

Hogans: Heroes

CBN.com -- In October of 1956, I was working a weekend news stint for a local radio station in Springfield, Missouri. At about five o'clock one particular morning, I was on the news beat when I got a call from the state patrol. It was a report about a fatal accident 60 miles away. A teen-aged boy had been killed.

The dispatcher said, "The kid's name is Richard Hogan." I was stunned! Not THAT Richard Hogan? My fishing and football buddy from high school and college? It was him.

I attended the funeral several days later and watched J. Phillip and Virginia Hogan, Richard's father and mother, come in with their family. The Hogan family had recently moved to Springfield after serving as missionaries to China. That field had closed when the Communists took power, so they had been forced to come back to Missouri.

He has suffered two huge losses, a life's work and a son. About every other month, I have the privilege of eating lunch with J. Phillip Hogan. He is now 87 years of age. Since his son was killed, he has done the following:

Expanded a global missions movement that now embraces 160 nations;
Helped to launch a worldwide Decade of Harvest that has helped to grow the membership in the Assemblies of God to more than 40 million strong; and
Prayed through a concept of global correspondence with a man named George Flattery. Their dream has now merged into the largest distance learning school in the world.

He has done all of this and a few other things too numerous to list here. He and Virginia lost their work in China and a precious son in a traffic accident. On those twin disasters, they reached up and touched the heart of God and changed the world.

My friend, you can quit when things go bad, or, you can continue up the mountain. It really is your call.

The Camera Never Lies

Our church had a missions golf tournament last week. Yep, we can do that in Florida in January.

In fact, about the only time we cannot play golf is when the hurricanes come through and the clubhouses have been blown somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico.

At any rate, there was a photographer going from foursome to foursome snapping shots. He brought me in some copies this morning. I am deeply depressed.

I looked at the pictures and thought, “Who is that guy? What kind of shot is that?”

Unfortunately as I looked closer, I could not deny the duffer with the rusty gate swing was - yup, yours truly. Spare tire, over-the-top swing, the whole deal. Disgusting.

In the camera of my mind, I have a swing similar to Fred Couples. But with the Nikon equipment this photographer had, I find that in reality I swing like Moms Mabley. See, you cannot fool the camera.

Perhaps that is why lots of folks never read the Bible. It is God’s camera and shows us precisely what we look like to God.

Of course, some of it is negative (pardon the unintended pun there) but some of it is also pretty good. After all, we are God’s handiwork.

Still, as Isaiah penned, all we like sheep have gone astray. Or as Paul observed, all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

While we should never set ourselves up as judges of others, we must judge ourselves in the light of scripture. When we take communion, scripture orders, “Let a person examine himself or herself.”

So an eternal picture is being taken of you and me today. Wanna look at the proofs?

Dan

Betzer

Contributing Writer

More from Dan Betzer

More from Dan Betzer